[Potential spoilers] - Does WWE need Sting at this year's WrestleMania?

Dave Meltzer in the February 7th Wrestling Observer Newsletter gave away the currently scheduled line up for WrestleMania.  Here's how the card is shaping up:

• John Cena vs. The Miz for the WWE title, so Cena wins the Chamber match for the WWE title shot and no upset WWE title win for Jerry "The King" Lawler at the Elimination Chamber PPV then presumably.
• Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight title, which means that Edge should win the ill advised second Chamber match where he's defending the title against Dolph Ziggler, Kane, Rey Mysterio, Wade Barrett and Drew McIntyre.
• The Undertaker vs. Wade Barrett, which is contingent on Undertaker being healthy enough to work a full singles match.  In the unlikely situation that Undertaker can't gut it out, there's a fall back plan of The Brothers Of Destruction reuniting to face The Corre in a handicap match.
• The long delayed return of "The King Of Kings" Triple H against the 2010 King Of The Ring winner Sheamus.
• Randy Orton vs. CM Punk.
• The rest of Nexus, Mason Ryan, David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty vs. the remainder of The Corre, Ezekial Jackson, Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel.
• Rey Mysterio vs. his hand picked opponent Cody Rhodes.
• A Jerry Lawler match that will somehow blow off the Michael Cole heel storyline, which will make it interesting how they handle the announcing for the show.  They may have booked themselves into a corner where Vince McMahon has to hold his nose and bring back old Southern fuddy-duddy Jim Ross for the biggest show of the year.
• Maybe a Money In The Bank match, so that the Ziggler's, McIntyre's, John Morrison's, Kofi Kingston's and R-Truth's of the WWE Universe can be involved in a featured WrestleMania match and get a good payoff.  It's not like booking overkill has stopped WWE before.

Unfortunately, this would make it arguably the weakest WrestleMania line up in 14 years, which is why I doubt WWE will rigidly stick to these plans.  The comparative lack of star power with no Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Vince McMahon, Batista or Chris Jericho wrestling this year obviously doesn't help, but the bigger problem is that they haven't done a strong enough job of grooming their replacements.  Apart from Alex Riley having yet to run over his dog, The Miz has been booked as a weaker chickensh*t heel champion than even Chris Jericho was in 2002.  Del Rio, like Miz, is an awesome character, but fans don't react to him yet in a manner that suggests they see him as a big enough star to headline WrestleMania.  Superman Cena blitzed Barrett at every turn when the odds were even, so how will anyone buy Barrett as a potential threat to end The Undertaker's streak?  The cartoonish cape, crown and sceptre has turned Sheamus into a King Booker-esque joke that everyone will expect Triple H to squash in short order.  Punk is a tremendous all round talent, but even he has been hampered by WWE's trademark stop start pushes.  In short, this line up misses a "can't miss" match.

I think even WWE realises this.  With all of their "out of the box" celebrity ideas having fallen through, most notably Brock Lesnar, WWE may be resorting to an "out of the box" wrestler idea.  Yes, common sense suggests that even though Sting has not yet officially signed with WWE as erroneously reported by the New York Daily News, he is indeed in serious negotiations with WWE to appear in a dream match against The Undertaker at the show.  If WWE weren't showing serious interest in him, then he would have already re-signed with TNA for another year and decided to end his career with that company.  Moreover, WWE wouldn't have made their 2.21.11 video so ambiguous that it could effectively hype either The Undertaker's return or Sting's debut, if they weren't attempting to make the latter happen.  Finally, WrestleMania is in Atlanta this year, the home base of the dead for a decade WCW, which makes bringing in Sting a natural, especially after their first choice of local WCW icon Bill Goldberg fell through pretty quickly.

That the soon to be 52 year old Sting may be the best of the few choices left to create a viable "can't miss" match for this year's WrestleMania is proof of the poor job WWE has done in creating new headliners and building feuds to peak for the show.  Outside of tearing up the script and putting The Undertaker in with one of only two current WWE superstars fans might buy could end his streak, John Cena and Triple H, and having Shawn Michaels referee the match, without Sting WWE might struggle to beat last year's disappointing WrestleMania numbers, even without the same weekend UFC PPV competition that blighted them last year.

After the jump, you can read David Lagana's and Jim Ross' take on this situation.

David Lagana praises WWE for creating more Wrestlemania 27 buzz with their "Who was that trench coated man?" video and concurred with me that the card is currently lacking that "can't miss" dream match:

Who was in the trench coat entering the cabin?  Who will show up on Monday Night Raw on 2/21/11?   Three shots and a date have created talk and chatter the likes of which every marketing executive dreams of.

Positioned in "commercial time", this video caught everyone by surprise; asking more questions then it answered.  Immediately on Twitter, discussion blew up over the vignette.  I applaud WWE because in one minute they created buzz and intrigue in this crucial Wrestlemania season....

I'm the biggest proponent of pushing new talent in high profile positions.  I see Wade Barrett as one of the shining stars of WWE in 2010.   The table is set very nicely for new talents to be featured in main events of Wrestlemania this year with Alberto Del Rio and Miz.   But what is lacking that "big fight dream match" to attracts casual fans. Last year we had Vince McMahon vs. Bret Hart and Undertaker vs. HBK "Streak vs. Career"; previous years featured Floyd Mayweather vs. Big Show, and Trump vs. McMahon.  Based on the buzz off this simple 45-second video, the fans are voicing their opinion on what they want out of Wrestlemania 27.  I don't have any answers but we will all find out on 2/21/11.   Ask yourself - is Sting vs. Undertaker the dream match you want for this year's Wrestlemania?

Meanwhile, out of the loop WWE hatchet man Jim Ross attempted to downplay the rumours that Sting would wrestle at Mania:

The Sting stories that have been on line regarding him coming to WWE have taken a life of their own.  Will Sting ever come to WWE?  Does a 51 year old guy want to engage in an ambitious, road schedule or any schedule?  Could a deal be done and all the pieces be put in place before WM27?  Is Sting even remotely interested in re-entering the squared circle on any level?  I don't know the answers to these questions nor, would I suggest, does anyone but Sting himself.  Agreed, any thing is possible but what is feasible, doable, etc are questions that none of us can answer.